Gottfried Helnwein

Installation “48 PORTRAITS”
#GottfriedHelnwein and #GerhardRichter at #GalerieRudolfinum, Prague (2011)

In 1971/72 Gerhard Richter created a series of 48 iconic portraits of men that influenced Modernity, in a photorealistic manner based on black and white photographs in encyclopedias. Exactly 20 years later, in 1991/92 Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein replied with a cycle of 48 portraits that depict exclusively women of historic influence. In contrast to Gerhard Richter’s men in gray, Helnwein painted his women in fiery red. Both Helnwein’s and Gerhard Richter’s works, which are part of the collection of the Ludwig Museum, Cologne, were shown together face to face for the first time as the centerpiece of the exhibition Undeniable Me, at Galerie Rudolfinum in Prague.

“Undeniable me” exhibition
26. 5. 2011 – 14. 8. 2011
#art#painting#monochrome#red#women#girls#exhibition#museum#gallery

“Annunciation”, 2000
mixed media (oil and acrylic on canvas)
213 cm x 163 cm

“These paintings are about America, I guess from a very European point of view. They’re based on photographs, mainly newspaper photographs, of the Fifties and Sixties from archives in New York and L.A. Most people in these pictures are real people, caught in some long forgotten, petty events. I rearranged the scenes, introduced new characters, and created new relationships and contexts. And then I painted them in black and blue. That’s how I remember America back then in the early Fifties in Vienna, where I was born. The big war had ended a few years ago, but the city still seemed undecided as to whether this was the end of the world or if life should go on. It was a strange, sad and surreal world. The streets were empty, the houses dark - many of them in ruins from the bombings. The few people I saw seemed ugly, clumsy, and depressed. I never saw anybody laughing and I never heard anybody sing. It was a world without sound and colour. Everything moved in slow motion, like slime. We had no phones, no television, no cars, no music, no pictures, except the paintings of tortured people in the Roman Catholic church which made a deep impression on me, haunting me in the sleepless nights of my childhood limbo. And then, without any warning, suddenly there was America. When I saw the first picture of Elvis I was in a state of shock, because I couldn’t believe that a human being could be so beautiful. That was the beginning of the never-ending flood of American images that suddenly came over us and started to penetrate and transform everything.” - Gottfried Helnwein, “The American Paintings”, interview in TANK Magazine.
More at:
http://www.gottfried-helnwein-essays.com/#12 #gottfriedhelnwein #helnwein #artist #painting #america #blue #monochrome

“Head of a Child 17 (Pepper)”, 2014
mixed media (oil & acrylic on canvas), 180 x 120cm

Interview with Gottfried Helnwein: http://www.gottfried-helnwein-interviews.com/interviews/kayser.html #helnwein #gottfriedhelnwein #art #painting #child #artist #painter

“Pink Mouse”, 2011
mixed media (oil & acrylic on canvas)
201 cm x 300 cm

#helnwein #mouse #gottfriedhelnwein #painting #art

“The Golden Age I” and “The Golden Age II” @marilynmanson Photographs, 2003. #marilynmanson #gottfriedhelnwein #manson #helnwein #goldenageofgrotesque

“The Golden Age, Weeping Officer” (Marilyn Manson)
photograph, 2003. #marilynmanson #thegoldenage #gottfriedhelnwein #helnwein #photography #officer

“Red Donald 2”, 2014
mixed media (oil & acrylic on canvas), 160 x 240cm

“His shape is derived from the ideal geometrical principle of the sphere. There are no corners, everything about Donald is round, soft and flowing. And even though he looks nothing like a human being, but more like a duck, he embodies the human spirit better than all fine artworks before him have done.
"What is human about the Mona Lisa? Her outer form might resemble a female figure, but despite all unquestionable artistic qualities she has little to do with a real human being. It is fascinating how this small, artificial drake is a so much better mirror of the human soul. In Donald we recognize our fears, our uncertainties and weaknesses - our stupidity, our vanity, our depravity, our jealousy and our simple-mindedness.
"But also the very same stubbornness with which we stand up again and again after every defeat and every catastrophe and begin anew.
"In retrospect I would say from Donald Duck I have learned more about life than from all the schools I ever attended.” - Gottfried Helnwein, “Memories of Duckburg”
http://www.helnwein.com/news/news_update/article_436-Memories-of-Duckburg #gottfriedhelnwein #helnwein #donaldduck #duckburg #carlbarks #disney

At work in the studio, 2011
(with granddaughter Croí)

“Ein göttlich Wesen ist das Kind, solang es nicht in die Chamäleonsfarbe der Menschen getaucht ist. Es ist ganz, was es ist, und darum ist es so schön. Der Zwang des Gesetzes und des Schicksals betastet es nicht; im Kind ist Freiheit allein. In ihm ist Frieden; es ist noch mit sich selber nicht zerfallen” - Friedrich Hölderlin
http://helnwein-kind.at

Photo: @cyrilhelnwein

“The Disasters of War 3”
mixed media (oil & acrylic on canvas) - 2007
200cm x 293cm

In memory of #Goya. #helnwein #gottfriedhelnwein #painting #art #artist #blood #child #war

“Night in Shangri-la I”, 1987
Photograph

Available as limited edition print: http://helnwein-artstore.com/der-untermensch/ #helnwein #gottfriedhelnwein #photography #35mm #art #artist #untermensch